Persistence of Antibody to Hepatitis B Surface Antigen

J Clin Microbiol 1976 May;3(5):465-468

Irwin GR, Allen AM, Segal HE, Willhight M, Cannon H, Top FH Jr

Sera from military personnel found to have antibodies to Hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBS) in an epidemiological study of a Hepatitis B outbreak were tested for persistence of that antibody 1 year later. Initially, 64% of the anti-HBS-positive sera reacted in passive hemagglutination tests with erythrocytes coated with Hepatitis B surface antigen of both ayw and adw subtypes; the remaining sera reacted only with adw-coated erythrocytes (19%) or ayw-coated erythrocytes (17%). After 1 year, anti-HBS was detectable by passive hemagglutination tests in 87% of individuals with initial antibody to both subtypes but in only 41% and 16% (P less than 0.001) of those initially reacting only to adw- or ayw-coated erythrocytes, respectively. Seropositivity for anti-HBS correlated best with history of contact with jaundiced people (20.3%) and duty in Asia.

PMID: 932185, UI: 76213617